There Was a Garden
by Partial Reject
Summary: As the world around her fades to black, and her eyes fall shut one final time, she knows this is the end. Then she wakes up. Alma Karma is there to greet her.
1. Chapter One: Black Hole

**Chapter Notes:** This is one of those fics where someone from our world finds their way into DGM. If you don't like that type of storyline, I suggest you leave now. If you do like that type of story, I hope you enjoy.

 **Disclaimer: I do not own D. Gray - Man. This applies to all further chapters.**

Chapter One: Black Hole

* * *

" _When I first met you, there was a garden,_

 _Growing from a black hole in my mind."_

* * *

It is said that light cannot exist without darkness, and darkness cannot exist without light. They are two complementary forces, like Yin and Yang.

There was no light in this darkness.

It consumed her, surrounded her, until it wiped any other thoughts from her mind. The darkness was the only thing left.

She was alone, and scared. Wasn't it silly, to be afraid of the dark? She shouldn't be scared.

 _Fear. Heart pounding. Breath racing. Hands shaking._

She tried to calm herself; calm her heartbeat, her breathing-

She wasn't breathing.

That spouted another bout of panic within her. Why wasn't she breathing? She was supposed to be breathing, she wouldn't be alive otherwise.

Was she dead?

Her lungs burned as she finally sucked in a breath, only for her to choke a second later as liquid flooded into her mouth. She coughed, trying to expel the fluid, gasping for air whenever she could.

If she wasn't dead already, she would be soon.

 _Am I underwater?_ The thoughts drifted to the front of her consciousness slowly. _Where_ am _I?_

She tried opening her eyes - a novel idea, why hadn't she thought of that before? - squinting against the stinging pressure. Suddenly, something disrupted the space around her, creating ripples and bubbles and it came closer.

A hand. Someone was reaching out to her.

As quick as she could, she grasped the outstretched appendage. As her fingers closed around those of the other person, she was hauled upwards with surprising strength. Finally, she could breathe again.

* * *

Alma Karma lived a rather lonely life, if he was being perfectly honest.

Sure, there were the numerous scientists that looked after him, but they were all significantly older than he was and never wanted to spend that much time with him. They did their necessary tests then moved on, disappearing into their offices and the other labs to consult with their results.

There were so many other kids here too, but they were all sleeping. None of them had woken up yet, like Alma did. Alma liked to think that if they were to wake up, he'd have lots of friends to play with then.

He hoped they woke up soon.

In an effort to be friendly (even if the other kids couldn't hear him - or maybe they could?), he sat down everyday with the sleeping kids and talked to them. He would talk about what he'd done that day, what he'd had for lunch, what the scientists were up to; anything to break the heavy silence in the Sixth Laboratory. He'd address them all by name, too, hoping that they'd hear and know to wake up.

When he'd first asked the scientists what the names of the other kids were they wouldn't tell him, but he wore them down eventually with his persistent questioning. He was much happier, now that he was able to give a name to each child he saw within the pits. It felt wrong, a child not having a name.

On this particular evening, Alma limped his way into Laboratory Six after another one of his "daily synchronization tests". There were several deep gashes on his arms and torso, and his left ankle was bruising and swollen, but there was a smile on his face regardless. He had a lot to share tonight.

Almost immediately upon entering the birthing chamber, Alma's eyes were drawn to a pit along the wall to his left, the third one back. Small bubbles rose disrupted the usually smooth surface.

Alma's smile grew wider, eyes lighting up in his excitement. Someone else was waking up - he wouldn't be alone anymore.

* * *

She collapsed almost immediately after she was released, slumping heavily against the cool floor and gagging, trying to clear her airway. Something warm touched her back, gently patting. Distantly, she was aware that someone was talking, but her hearing was distorted through all the water clogging her ears. She shook her head, wet strands of hair sticking to her face and neck in the process, trying to get the water out.

"-so happy you're awake! It's been awhile since I woke up, and it's been pretty lonely here… Not that this isn't a great place! I just didn't have anyone to play with before now! You'll play with me right? Once we get you dry of course, and I'm sure the scientists will want to give you a check up-"

She tried to speak, but all that came out was a small croak. Her throat ached, probably caused by a combination of the water and disuse - what was this person talking about? How long had she been "asleep"? She looked up at the other person, the one who had pulled her out of that hellish place, and blinked in confusion.

 _A little boy..?_

Thankfully, said boy stopped talking when her noticed her looking up at him. He beamed down at her, rocking lightly on his heels in his squatted position. "I guess I should introduce myself, huh? I'm Alma! It's nice to meet you, Nika!"

Alright, now she was very confused. Nika? Was that her name? That didn't sound right.

"N-Ni..ka?" She felt as though she could barely manage the words, but they were out there nonetheless.

"Mhm!" The boy, Alma, nodded enthusiastically. "That's what the scientists told me your name was. They gave me my name too, when I first woke up."

"Wh-Where are we?" It was slowly becoming easier to speak.

Alma looked contemplative, and plopped down to sit cross-legged on the floor. "Well, this room here is called the Sixth Laboratory. I don't really know where we are for sure, but a lot of the scientists here talk about something called The Black Order. Maybe that's here?" He shrugged, easygoing. "Who knows."

She nodded slowly, though his answers weren't all that helpful. "Why are there s-scientists?"

Abruptly, Alma bolted to his feet. "Oh man, that's right! The scientists! C'mon, we'll go tell them you're awake!" He grabbed her by the elbow and hauled her to her feet. "C'mon, c'mon! They'll give you some dry clothes and everything!" He gestured towards her, and she suddenly realized she was very much naked, though her hair was practically long enough to cover everything.

Struggling to keep up, she stumbled over her own feet as she was pulled along. It was obvious to her now that she hadn't used her legs in quite some time, but despite that she was still able to walk - albeit slowly. Alma, on the other hand, didn't seem to realize this as he practically sprinted from Laboratory Six. She tried telling him to slow down, but he either didn't hear her over his excited chattering, or was not willing to wait.

Before long Alma skidded to a stop outside another room, and knocked on the large doors. "Doctor Edgar! Doctor Edgar! Come quick!"

Suddenly nervous as to who could be on the other side of the door, she took a small step back and ducked behind Alma. He was about the same height as her - maybe an inch shorter - so she peered over his shoulder, lightly clasping the back of his shirt.

Alma appeared confused by this, turning his head to look at her with concerned eyes. "Nika? What's wrong? Doctor Edgar is really nice, I promise!"

Before she could even say anything in reply, the doors opened and a blonde middle-aged man stepped out into the hallways. Their eyes locked over Alma's shoulder and he stopped short, mouth falling open slightly.

"Hi Doctor Edgar, this is Nika!"

"Oh- um- come in, come in! Quickly, we'll get you into some dry clothes," The man stepped aside, holding open the door and waving them into the room. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Nika. My name is Edgar Chang Martin."

After that, Nika was swarmed by scientists and lab technicians. People bustled around, and it seemed there was no end to all the people that want to have a look at her. Some tests they performed right then and there, but she was informed that there'd be many more to come. Alma told her that he had daily tests, and that she'd have to do them too, once she was a little more adjusted. Apparently, the scientists wanted them to "synchronize" - with what, Nika didn't know, but she guessed she'd find out eventually.

Doctor Edgar gave her some clothes before he allowed anyone to see her; a pair of black pants that came down to her calves and a soft yellow shirt with long sleeves. She was grateful for the change, because she'd been getting quite chilly after sitting without clothes for a long time. The rooms were cold too, with stone walls and floors that were practically ice against her skin when she touched them.

Eventually, her eyes started to droop. Even though, according to Alma, she'd just woken up from a very long nap, the constant hustle and bustle was beginning to wear her out. When Doctor Edgar noticed this, he gently placed a hand on her shoulder and told her they'd continue tomorrow and to get some sleep. Alma agreed, tugging her hand gently - he hadn't let go of it since the tests began - and helping her down from the tall metal table she was sat on. Doctor Edgar bid them farewell and saw them to the door before going back to his desk.

Alma lead her by the hand, skipping down the hallway back the way they had come only a few hours before.

"So, what'd you think, Nika? They're not so bad, right?" He asked her, smile lighting up his face.

"Mhm..." Nika nodded, trying and failing to stifle a yawn. "I guess they're okay." Her throat didn't hurt anymore, and one of the lab technicians had been nice enough to give her something hot to drink earlier.

"See! Everything's gonna be okay, and you've got me, so don't worry!" Alma smiled even wider, which Nika hadn't thought was possible. "Hey, Nika?"

"Yeah, Alma?"

His eyes darted around the hallway for a moment, avoiding her curious gaze. He suddenly looked shy. "We're... We're friends, right?"

"Of course," Nika gave her own small smile, before faltering slightly. "Um, I mean, if you want to be."

"Definitely!" Alma was practically bouncing with excitement. "Yahoo! My first friend!"

Nika couldn't help letting out a little giggle at her new friend's excitement. She gave his hand a squeeze. "I think we'll be friends for a long time, Alma."

* * *

In the following days, Nika found out life wasn't always so sunny.

She'd been taken for further testing the day after she woke up. Alma hadn't been permitted to come with her, since he had his own testing, and Nika felt uneasy in his absence. Doctor Edgar had been the one to lead to into the different lab, but he didn't stay. Some other scientists were going to be conducting her tests, people she didn't yet know the names of.

The first day was nothing too horrible. They took blood samples, monitored her vitals, weighed her and measured how tall she was.

It was on the second day of testing that Nika started to have doubts.

Almost immediately after entering the lab, the scientists had her sit down on the table - that wasn't unusual. Then they strapped down her arms and legs and brought out some sharp metal tools.

Nika tried to struggle, but with her limbs restrained there wasn't much she could do. The scientists were telling her things, but the words were meaningless to her.

" _We just have to make sure her abilities are working properly."_

" _Don't worry, Nika, you should heal nicely. We just need to make sure you don't move too much or you'll cause more damage."_

The first cut was made to her left arm, just above her elbow. It was deep, and it hurt, and Nika could feel tears leaking onto her face as she quietly heaved. She didn't want to look at it, but when the scientists made noises of approval her curiosity won over.

The cut was already healing.

 _Was that normal?_ Nika didn't know. It suddenly occurred to her that she couldn't remember another time before this when she had been hurt. Did the scientists heal like this?

More cuts followed the first, in a wide variety of places across her body. They all healed within seconds, just like the first had. Even when the scientist brought out different tools, nothing was able to leave a permanent mark. They made deeper and deeper cuts, going so deep she could have sworn she felt the metal against her very bones. Each wound healed.

The left side of her chest vaguely tingled, though it was nothing compared to the feeling of one of the scientists holding a match to her palm. That mark took slightly longer to heal, but in the end all that was left was slightly pinker skin before that too faded back to her normal pale colouring.

They kept at it for what felt to be a long time - how long she actually laid there, Nika wasn't sure. Her tears eventually dried up, only resurfacing when there was a particularly painful injury. She was still scared, but even the fear was leaving her, the longer this continued.

 _Could she even die?_

* * *

Alma was waiting for Nika when the scientists finally let her go, and he instantly knew what had happened. He'd known what they were going to do to her, of course, but he wasn't expecting the vacant expression on her face. He lead her by the hand back to their sleeping quarters, a large room lined with beds.

It was a big room for two small children.

They sat, cross-legged, across from each other on one of the beds. Alma held both her hands in is, drawing small circles onto the skin of her palms with his thumbs.

"Nika…?" He spoke quietly, almost as if he was scared of startling her. "Are you okay? How did things go with the scientists?"

He knew they likely hadn't gone well, certainly not, based on her reaction. But the testing was a part of life here, and he knew that she'd have to get used to it.

Nika locked eyes with him, fingers tightening around his own minutely. "Alma? Did they do that to you too?"

Alma felt vaguely guilty. "Yeah, they did," he shook his head, long bangs flying. "They still do. It's not so bad, I promise. The marks go away."

"Then..." Nika's gaze shifted, searching any pieces of exposed skin for marks. "You heal like that too?"

"Yeah, I do. I think the other kids do too, but we won't know for sure until they wake up."

"What... What's wrong with us?"

Alma cocked his head, confused. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Does everyone heal like that? So fast? I didn't think that was normal..." She looked away again, sheepish.

"Hmm, I dunno... Maybe? I don't see the scientists get hurt very often,"

Nika frowned. "Maybe it's something everyone does then..." But she wasn't so sure.

Alma suddenly scooted closer, wrapping his arms around her thin shoulders. "Even if it's not, who cares? Isn't it a good thing that no one can hurt us?"

She relaxed into the hug, grabbing onto his shirt. "Mm, you're right, I guess."

* * *

For the next two months, Alma and Nika continually went for their daily testing, which now included synchronization tests for Nika as well. Even though they were routinely injured during these "tests", she was almost used to it now. It wasn't the best situation, not at all, but she was still alive at the end of every day and that was what mattered, right?

She and Alma grew very close very fast, and always made time for each other despite their busy days. Nika began to accompany Alma during his visits with the other sleeping kids, and he did his best to teach her all of their names; it was a lot of names to take in, though, so she hadn't quite memorized them all yet. At the end of the day, they stayed up late talking about anything that came to mind, until they eventually fell asleep in beds next to each other.

After the first few weeks of standardized testing to ensure the capabilities of her healing, the scientists introduced something new to her appointments - Innocence. They hooked her up to a strange looking machine, and she was brought into contact with Innocence for the first time. She was told a fantastical tale about demons, _"Akuma"_ , and a man named The Millennium Earl who created them. She, apparently, was to be a soldier in the war against this man, and Innocence was her weapon.

But first, she had to achieve synchronization.

Nika didn't want to find out what would happen if she failed to do so.

The synchronization tests were the most painful thing she had ever experienced. The testing would leave wounds all over her body, and sometimes her heart even gave out, or she would bleed out from the severity of her wounds. They never stopped though, only pausing in their experiments long enough for her to regenerate before they tried again. She found that Alma went through the same testing and they would lie together afterwards until they were fully healed, at which point they would go visit the children in Laboratory Six.

She had yet to synchronize with the Innocence, but Alma hadn't yet managed it either, which made her feel a little bit better. After all, he had been awake before she was, so maybe it took a long time to synchronize.

"Hey Alma," the thought suddenly occurred to her. "How... How long have you been awake? Were you alone for a long time?"

Alma turned his head to look at her from where he was sprawled out on the floor. Today had been a particularly hard day, with the scientists pushing their bodies to the brink in a desperate attempt to force the synchronization. Nika guessed they were probably losing this war, if they needed children ready to fight so quickly.

"Hmm," Alma thought about it, sticking his tongue out in concentration. "About six months, I think? It was four months before you woke up - maybe five? I wasn't really counting."

"Oh," she couldn't imagine what that would've been like. Being alone for that long, enduring these tests all by himself... "Were you lonely?"

He nodded. "Oh, definitely. But, it's okay, because then you woke up and I wasn't alone anymore!"

Nika smiled at that. "Ah, that's true," she stretched her still sore arm out and gently took ahold of his hand. "Well, I'm glad we don't have to be alone."

His fingers grabbed hold of hers. "Mhm! Me too!"

* * *

It wasn't even a week later when the next one woke up.

They had been talking to the sleeping children as they usually did, when Nika suddenly heard Alma speak up from across the room.

"Hey, are you awake?"

Instantly, Nika looked over to see who he was talking to. Alma was standing next to one of the pits, leaning forward to peer into the waters. She couldn't remember the name of the person who was in that one.

"Are you awake? Hey!"

Scrambling to her feet, Nika rushed to his side. She squinted at the water, but couldn't really see what the person inside looked like - just the long hair that all of the children had before awakening. Her own hair, once just as long, had been cut by Doctor Edgar's wife - Director Twi - a few days after she woke up. Now her ash brown hair was shoulder length, with shorter bangs pinned to the right side of her face.

Alma, though, could apparently see more than she did, because he kept talking.

"Raise your hand if you're awake."

Much to Nika's surprise, a small pale hand rose out of the water. _They could hear him?_ She thought back to her own awakening, and wondering why it hadn't seemed as smooth as this. Alma was ecstatic, throwing himself bodily to the floor to be closer to the person.

"Yay! I'm so glad, now we'll have another friend!"

"A-Alma, be careful you don't fall in," Nika piped up from a few steps behind him.

"I'll be okay, don't worry!" Alma sent her a grin over his shoulder, before gesturing her forward. "C'mon, come say hi!"

She cautiously came closer, sitting down beside Alma. "Um, hi, I guess. Glad you're awake."

Alma nodded happily, turning back to the body in the water. "You know what? They call you Yuu!"

 _Yuu, that was their name._ The name did ring a bell. This was the pit of another young boy, if she was remembering correctly.

The hand slowly shifted, moving so that it was pointing one finger in their direction.

"Eh? Me?" Alma laughed a little nervously, scratching at the back of his neck. "Well, they call me Alma - and this is Nika!" He pulled Nika closer with an arm around her shoulders, smiling widely.

"Happy birthday, Yuu!"

* * *

 **End Chapter Notes:** By no means will this be 100% accurate in regards to canon. I'll try my best, but ultimately may need to manipulate events to include Nika. I'm also not completely sure of the timeline during this time in Kanda and Alma's life, so I'm essentially winging it. I'm hoping events from here on will be pretty much in line with canon though, at least until Alma's "death". It'll also become more apparent that Nika isn't from this world later, but you'll have to wait for an explanation.

Chapter inspiration (lyrics at the beginning of the chapter) from Halsey's "Garden". This is also where the title comes from.

 **Published: 10/16/2016**


	2. Chapter Two: Chaos

**Chapter Notes:** And now, everyone, Kanda.

Chapter Two: Chaos

* * *

" _Art is not what I create._

 _What I create, is chaos."_

* * *

As Alma moved to help the other boy, Yuu, out of the pit, Nika ran to get Doctor Edgar. Thankfully, the middle-aged man was nearby, so it didn't take very long to retrieve him. When he heard the news, he and the lab technician with him immediately ran to Laboratory Six to see Yuu for themselves.

Alma had just managed to get him out by the time they got back. Doctor Edgar promptly began to give out instructions.

"Report to the Branch Director that it produced a third person," he told the lab technician. "And go prepare some medicine as soon as possible!" The other man gave an affirmative response, already heading for the door at a brisk pace.

Next, Doctor Edgar turned to her. "Nika, could you go get Yuu some towels, please? I'm sure he's quite cold."

Before she could respond, Alma starting yelling. "Doctor Edgar, we need towels now!"

The man sighed, but his smile was fond. "Yes, yes, Alma, don't worry, Nika is just about to go get them." In the meantime, he began to take off his long coat, shaking his head at Alma's shirtless outfit. "Dressed like that again, Alma? Didn't I tell you it's cold in here? Wear some clothes!"

Nika didn't get to hear Alma's response as she pushed open the heavy doors and exited in search of the needed towels. She knew there was a supply closet nearby from past explorations with Alma, so she wasn't worried about where to look.

Once she got the towels, she hurried back to the Sixth Laboratory. She knew from experience how cold that room was, though she supposed Yuu was lucky that there had been two people there for his awakening - otherwise, Alma might've dragged him naked down the halls like he had done with her.

When she stepped back into the room, she noticed that Alma was bouncing on the balls of his feet next to Yuu, who was still seated on the ground and wrapped up in Doctor Edgar's jacket. Alma was chattering away, asking about a thousand questions at once, but Yuu looked too dazed to answer any of them.

Hastily, Nika moved to join the two boys, gently moving Alma back a few steps so that she could sit down beside Yuu. "Alma, give him a minute, he just woke up," she reminded him, taking a towel and beginning to dry Yuu's hair. "You'll have time to ask him questions later."

"Ah, sorry!" Alma gave her a sheepish smile. "You're right, I'm just excited."

She couldn't help but giggle at his chastised expression. "It's okay Alma, just give him some breathing room." She carefully smoothed the towel over Yuu's scalp and over the long strands. "It's nice to meet you, Yuu, I'm Nika."

That got a reaction, but certainly not the one she was expecting. Yuu suddenly reached up and grabbed the towel from her, batting her hands away. "I can it do myself," he scowled. "I don't need you to help me."

"Oh," Nika blinked, a bit surprised at his outburst. "Okay, I just thought you'd maybe need a hand. You looked pretty out of it."

"Yeah, well, I'm fine." And that was the end of that, in Yuu's opinion.

"Hey, Nika's just trying to be nice!" Alma protested, frowning. "She just woke up a little while ago too, okay?"

Yuu bared his teeth in a way that had Nika leaning away from him. "I didn't ask."

And so began a long, exhausting, series of events within the Sixth Laboratory.

* * *

Nika let out a shriek as she opened the doors to Laboratory Six, only to be knocked backwards when Alma came flying out of the room. They both yelped as they hit the floor in a tangle of limbs, and Nika flinched a little when his elbows dug into her ribs.

"Ah, Nika!" Alma exclaimed, struggling to sit up. "Oh God, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to land on you!"

"W-What were you _doing_ , Alma? Are you okay?"

"Well, um, you see," he began, looking guilty. "Yuu and I were just-"

Nika cut him off with a groan, letting her head thump back against the floor. "You two were fighting again, weren't you?"

Alma finally managed to rolled off of her, halfhearted protests falling from his lips. "What? No way! Why would you ever think-"

He was cut off as Yuu came storming out of the room, hands clenched into fists at his sides. "Did you die out there, bastard?" He accused, but stopped short when he noticed the two of them. "Che, you're here too."

"Um, yes, I am," Nika blinked up at him, before realizing she should probably get up off the floor. When she sat up, Alma hurried to help her to her feet.

"I'm _so_ sorry, I promise, Nika! I didn't mean to! Yuu threw me, and then you opened the door at a _really_ bad time and-"

"Alma, I'm fine!" She huffed, repositioning her bangs and fixing her clip. "But why were you two fighting?"

Yuu crossed his arms, scowling in Alma's direction. "He was _following_ me again."

"I was not!" Alma declared, sticking his tongue out.

"Yes you were!" Yuu snarled, glaring daggers at the other boy. "You're always following me! You fucking weirdo!"

"Shut up, you jerk! I wasn't doing anything!"

"Y-Yuu, Alma, please!" Nika stepped in between the two, trying to diffuse the situation quickly. "That's enough fighting! I bet you're already tired from testing, so why don't we all just take a break?"

Honestly, it seemed as though Alma and Yuu never stopped fighting. After his awakening, Nika had made sure to give the other boy plenty of space - in her mind, if he suddenly wanted company, then he'd come to them. If not, there was no sense in antagonizing him. He didn't seem to get along with anyone within the labs, not them, or the scientists; and while he didn't outright hate Doctor Edgar, Nika certainly wouldn't call them friends.

She wondered if Yuu ever got lonely.

Alma was trying so hard to befriend him, but Yuu didn't want anything to do with either of them, apparently. Nika was worried a little bit, but she didn't express it for fear of him turning violent towards her as well. Even if he clearly didn't like her, Yuu hadn't done anything to her specifically besides saying a few mean comments here and there - he never attacked her like he did Alma, and she would rather it stay that way.

Yuu continued to glare at Alma over her shoulder - he was about the same height as Nika, so this was easy for him. "If that stalker leaves me alone, he won't keep getting hurt."

"I'm not a stalker!" Alma cried.

"H-Hey-"

"You _are_!"

" _Are not_!"

Nika jumped as Yuu leapt out around her and collided with Alma, both boys snarling in each other's faces. They grappled at the other's clothes, trying to get a good hold to throw their opponent to the ground.

"Why won't you just leave me alone, you freak-"

"Why are always such a jerk!?"

"S-Stop it!" She tried to pull them apart, but had to jump back as one of them threw the first punch and started an all-out brawl. "Yuu! Alma!"

Neither of the boys heard her over their own shouts, and Nika was left floundering a few feet away, unsure of what to do. Ultimately, her saviour appeared when Doctor Edgar came running down the hallway, no doubt having heard all the commotion from his office.

" _Hey_!" He shouted, trying to get their attention. "Both of you, _calm down_! Break it up!" He bodily placed himself between the two, grabbing hold of Alma and attempting to tug him away. Wanting to help, Nika stepped up to where Yuu was still fuming and firmly took ahold of his wrist, pulling him back a few steps before he wrenched his arm away.

"Che, just keep him away from me." Yuu scowled, before turning on his heel and stalking away.

Nika watched him go, frowning softly. At this rate, she couldn't see him becoming friends with either of them. Turning back to where Doctor Edgar was attempting to calm Alma down, she quickly ran over when she noticed the latter crying.

"Alma?" She took hold of his hand, squeezing it in a way she hoped was comforting. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

"N-No, I-" Alma broke off, sniffling loudly and wiping his tears with his free hand. "I just want to be friends with him! But he's always so mean! Don't you want him to be our friend too, Nika?"

"I, um-" Thankfully, Doctor Edgar cut in.

"Now, Alma," he began soothingly. "I'm sure Yuu has his reasons for acting this way. Just give him some time, I'm sure he'll come around eventually."

Privately, Nika wasn't so sure. But for Alma's sake, she nodded along.

"Yeah, I think he maybe just needs some alone time?" She suggested. "I bet he'll wanna be friends with us soon."

"You think so, Nika?" Alma's face lit up. "Yeah, you're probably right!"

* * *

Nika couldn't help but sigh as she watched several lab technicians try to break up yet another fight between Alma and Yuu. She was careful to stick to the back of the room, not wanting to be in the way. They were adults, so they could handle it.

 _Right?_

"That was seriously thrown at me just now, right!?"

 _Maybe not._

She winced sympathetically as Alma fell back to the floor, eyeing the large crater left behind on the wall from his most recent impact. Yuu, apparently, really enjoyed throwing the other boy. She watched as Yuu stuck out his tongue, aggravating Alma even further. The latter - teary, snot-covered face and all - launched himself back at Yuu, initiating another round.

Several lab technicians cried out, demanding that they stop. Eventually they managed to separate the two, dragging them off to opposite corners of the room and surrounding them in order to ensure there was no more fighting. There they took stock of the boys' various injuries; both had blood dripping from their noses, as well as multiple bruises and scratches. The two were then carried to the infirmary, where Nika sat down next to Alma as the nurse scolded him.

"Why were you two fighting this time?" The question was for both of them, but she doubted Yuu would answer. As it was, he was sitting with his back to them, firmly ignoring their presence.

Alma looked away, not even attempting to make any excuses this time. She could still hear him sniffling, though, so she patted him on the back.

"You two won't be very good friends if you're fighting all the time, you know." She reminded him.

"Who said I _want_ to be friends with either of you." Yuu mumbled from the next bed.

"Oh, you are listening?"

He didn't answer her, curling further into himself.

Nika sighed - she seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "Why can't you two just get along..."

The door opened and both she and Alma looked up when someone new walked into the room. Meeting Professor Epstein's eyes briefly, Nika slid off the bed. She gave a quick wave to his assistant, Renny, and smiled at Alma before going over to check on Yuu. She sat down next to him, but he just turned so that his back was to her again.

"Yuu?" She tried, quietly.

When there was no response she let herself fall back against the bed, staring up at the ceiling as she listened to Professor Epstein.

"This place is really strange, you know..." The older man began. "Alma, you have to take control of your feelings. You are meant to save humanity. You need to stop acting on your emotions and start being obedient disciples."

Alma sniffled, tears welling up all over again. "I'm sorry Professor," he apologized. "It's just that- with Yuu- I wanted to..."

Said boy suddenly spoke up, voice filled with such a venom that everyone in the room shuddered. "You're disgusting! Following after me like that - what are you, a stalker!? Just go and die, you damn bastard!"

"Yuu, you shouldn't-" Nika was cut off when Alma started to wail loudly, tears streaking down his cheeks. She jumped up from the bed, rushing to his side. "A-Alma, calm down!"

 _Why do things always end up like this?_

* * *

Three days after that, Alma woke her up in the late evening so that they could go visit the kids in the Sixth Laboratory. She'd fallen asleep after her synchronization tests, and Alma had brought her back to the sleeping quarters himself. Yuu had refused to share a room with either of them after he woke up, so the rest of the beds were still empty.

Rubbing her eyes in an attempt to be more alert, Nika almost ran into Alma's back as he suddenly stopped in front of her, just outside the doors to the Sixth Laboratory. Just as she was about to ask him what was wrong, he held a finger up to his lips and pulled her out of the doorway.

Listening closely, she could hear Doctor Edgar speaking, presumably from inside the lab.

"That's right. A disciple similar to yourself is in slumber here."

 _A disciple? Is he talking to Yuu?_

She cautiously peeked around the corner, just enough to see that Yuu was indeed in the room. He and Doctor Edgar were looking into one of the pits. Quickly, not wanting to be noticed, she ducked back out of sight.

"Are humans also born from holes?" Yuu asked.

Doctor Edgar chuckled. "Not quite," he explained. "Human's come from their mother's stomachs."

"Mothers?" Nika had never heard of them either. "What are those? Where are they from?"

"Hmm... Well, you know Director Twi? She is a mother."

Yuu seemed shocked. " _You were born from the Director_!?"

"Eh!? N-No, that's not it- My bad!" Doctor Edgar spluttered. "Director Twi is the mother of _my_ child. I'm the father."

"Fath...? What kind of being is that?"

"Um, basically that is... Humans are... the result of men and women who love each. They give birth to other humans. But that's-"

A voice suddenly rang out from Doctor Edgar's golem.

" _Doctor Edgar, do you have a moment?"_

He listened to the voice at the end of the line from a moment. "Eh? Alma and Nika?"

At the mention of their names, Nika flinched. _Have we been discovered?_

Sheepishly, she peered out again, trying to see whether or not they had been noticed. Surprisingly, neither person inside the lab was looking in their direction. That changed quickly, however, as Yuu suddenly tensed up and spun around to stare at the door. Nika flung herself back into Alma, hoping she hadn't been seen.

"Yuu?" Doctor Edgar spoke up.

"Just now, I..." Yuu faltered and trailed off, sounding unsure.

Against her back, Nika suddenly felt Alma tense and turned to look at him. To her alarm, he was scrunching up his face in a very familiar gesture.

"No, no, Alma, don't-!" She whispered, but it was too late.

Alma sneezed, loudly, and Nika jumped away to avoid any projectile snot. Unfortunately, this meant that they had thoroughly given away their position. Hesitantly, she turned to look at the two inside the lab.

 _Oh man, Yuu looks really mad..._

Doctor Edgar merely turned to speak to his golem. "Ah, I found them, Renny. They were here all along."

" _Just as I thought. They were chasing after Yuu again, weren't they?"_

Alma cowered by the doorframe, avoiding eye contact. "Ah... Um, you know..." Nika watched as Yuu's face shifted, falling blank. "Together, the three of us can..."

He stopped short as Yuu ran right by him, not even looking at either of them.

"Yuu!" Doctor Edgar yelled after him. "Alma was still talking, you know!"

"We can... have a t-talk..." Alma finished quietly, before falling to the ground in tears. His sobs echoed down the hallway, and Doctor Edgar looked pained.

"Y-Yuu!" He tried to call to the other boy. "Why can't you just get along?" He looked torn between chasing after one boy, or comforting the other, and Nika felt bad about not doing much. So she knelt down beside Alma and gave him a quick hug.

"Don't worry, Alma," she told him. "I'll try to talk to him."

She left Doctor Edgar to deal with him, and raced down the hall in the direction Yuu had run just a few moments before. She nearly lost him a few times, since he was so fast, but she managed to keep up enough so that she could always see his small form rounding a corner just up ahead.

"Yuu! W-Wait- slow down!" She called. "Yuu!"

As she ran around the next corner, she bumped into Yuu, who had stopped and was now glaring down at her.

"Ah, um," she gulped, righting herself. "Sorry, I didn't think you would listen."

"What do you want?" Straight to the point, as always.

"I- I just wanted to know why you're always so mean to Alma? He's actually a really nice person, I promise! He really wants to be your friend-"

Yuu crossed his arms, scowl deepening. "He disgusts me."

"D-Disgusts-?"

"I hate that guy, always smiling and laughing - and in a place like this! What's wrong with him!?"

"Y-Yuu, why-?" She didn't quite understand. "What's wrong with smiling? And laughing? It means he's happy."

"Disgusting," he scoffed, flicking his chin length hair out of the way. "This isn't a place where you should be happy."

"Ah," Well, that may have been true, but still... "We can still be happy, you know? Even if we get hurt, or they push us to our limits, it'll all be okay in the end - because we're not alone."

Yuu didn't answer.

"Life is better when you have friends you can count on," she tried to explain. "If you're alone, it's hard to be happy. But - with Alma and me - we're happy when we're together. I like playing with him. Don't you ever want someone to play with?"

"This isn't the time to be playing!" Yuu snapped. "We don't deserve happiness, we're not even human."

"Everyone deserves happiness," Nika protested. "Just because we're different, doesn't mean we don't get to be happy! That's just cruel!"

"Che, you're an idiot."

He disappeared down the hallway before she could argue otherwise.

* * *

Another day, another round of synchronization tests.

She was hooked up to that dreadful machine once more, repeatedly being exposed to the Innocence. There were gashes all along her arms and one particularly deep cut across her left hip. Pieces of her skin were flaying, and burns from electrical exposure darkened what skin was left. Even now, she could feel the tears building up in the corners of her eyes.

She could hear the scientists encouraging her, saying, _"Try again, try to synchronize with the Innocence"_.

It hurt.

 _Is the Innocence worth it?_ Maybe she just wasn't strong enough to handle its power.

She could hear bits and pieces about what was happening to Alma and Yuu through the golems present in the room. The scientists used them to update each other on their individual progress, and Nika liked to focus on them sometimes, to avoid thinking about how much pain her body was in.

" _We're not trying to punish you... Yuu!... Five hundred and ten second until regeneration... Three hundred and eighty seconds... Proceed... One more round..."_

" _Alma... Heartrate stopped... Four hundred and twenty seconds until regeneration..."_

" _Hope of humanity... Yuu has begun synchro..."_

Everything faded to black.

* * *

She woke up later to the darkness of the sleeping quarters, and she was alone. Alma's bed beside hers was empty, and his blanket and pillow were missing from the mattress.

 _Had he even been in the room at all? Or did someone take his things?_

Suddenly nervous, she pulled on a long sleeved shirt over her tank top. She had to find Alma - was he okay? Did he come back after the synchronization testing? She didn't know.

Quietly slipping out the door, she glanced around the hallway. She couldn't think of many places Alma would have been, unless one of the scientists had taken him somewhere; she hoped that wasn't the case, because then he could have been anywhere.

Trying her luck, she picked a direction at random and began to wander, keeping her eyes open for any sign of her fellow disciple. After a few minutes she stopped, cocking her head to the side and listening hard.

 _Was that... laughter?_

Following the noise, she was surprised to find herself in front of the doors to Laboratory Six. Did Alma come here? Come to think of it, they hadn't had the chance to visit the other kids today - maybe he had wanted to check up on them.

But why was he laughing? Had someone else woken up?

When she pushed open the doors, she blinked in confusion at the sight before her.

Alma was there, but he wasn't alone. Yuu was with him, and for once they weren't fighting. They _were_ laughing. Both of them.

And they were covered in blood.

"Oh God, what the hell happened to you two!?" Nika rushed into the room, falling to her knees beside the two boys.

"Ah, Nika!" Alma replied between giggles. "S-Sorry, we got into another fight-"

"There's blood _everywhere_ , oh God, what were you _doing_ -" She looked over their wounds, trying to see beneath all the blood. " Yuu, why are you _wet_?"

That sparked more laughter from Alma, who was now holding his sides. "He fell into one of the pits," he explained breathlessly. "I had to pull him out."

"Why are you still laughing, weirdo!" But Yuu was still smiling.

"Shut up, it's all the blood loss!"

"My God, you two, can you stop arguing for two seconds!?" Nika was starting to laugh herself. "Can you walk? We need to get you to the nurse."

 _Maybe we can all be friends now. This has got to be a step in the right direction, right?_

* * *

 **End Chapter Notes:** How do you give motivational speeches? I'm not sure. Most of this chapter is taken from Chapter 190 of the manga.

Thank you for such a positive response to the first chapter! I certainly wasn't expecting it, haha.

Chapter inspiration from Halsey's "Colours - Stripped".

 **Published: 10/23/16**

 **Edited: 01/29/2017 - "Lenny" has been changed to "Renny", because I missed the bad translation and didn't realize that said character was actually a younger Renny Epstain helping her father.**


	3. Chapter Three: Innocence and Ignorance

**Chapter Notes:** Following the manga, we're basically going to jump 193 days into the future here. I've included a few of my own scenes at the beginning, but overall we're covering just over six months in this chapter. You've been warned - there's a lot of shit coming.

Chapter Three: Innocence and Ignorance

* * *

" _We've been living in the shadows everyday,_

 _Are we ever gonna learn from our mistakes?_

 _Our innocence, our ignorance, were lost,_

 _But they'll be found."_

* * *

Turns out, Nika was right.

After that evening she'd walked in on Alma and Yuu laughing on the floor of the Sixth Laboratory covered in blood, Yuu had been a lot nicer to them. Truth be told, although she had been hoping he'd open up a bit, she was still shocked.

Hard not to be, after nearly two months of being hated by him, but she digressed.

Alma, obviously, was overjoyed. He couldn't be happier now that the three of them were getting along, and made sure he was always attached to at least one of them. Yuu was still a little bit quiet when they spent time together, but Nika suspected that was more because he was generally a quiet person, rather than the cause of any lingering maliciousness.

Still, she couldn't help but feel a little unbalanced at the sudden change, despite being happy about gaining a new friend. She knew the scientists were feeling it too, as she still caught them keeping a careful eye on the three of them before seeming to remember that, theoretically, there would be no more fights to stop.

Alma and Yuu hadn't gotten into another physical encounter since that day - though they still sometimes got into disagreements which would lead to lots of shouting, they'd stopped hurting each other and everyone in the labs breathed a sigh of relief.

Doctor Edgar, especially, made sure to comment on how glad he was with the new development.

Yuu, since he was no longer actively avoiding them, began to join their daily visits to the other children in Laboratory Six, and he even let Alma convince him to move into the sleeping quarters with them. Whenever the three of them weren't doing testing, they were together.

They got to hear Yuu laugh a lot more after that.

* * *

The testing was just as bad as ever, unfortunately.

Even if Nika felt a newfound happiness from Yuu's friendship, it almost made it that much more painful to undergo the synchronization tests. Now, as she listened in on the tinny voices that were broadcasted through the golems, her chest tightened even further. It was hard enough before, listening to the things that were happening to Alma, and hearing Yuu's struggles on top of that made her wish more than ever that things didn't have to be this way.

Angry words drifted back to her, almost lost under the white flashes of pain.

" _We don't deserve happiness, we're not even human."_

She thought about those words a lot, actually.

 _What does it really mean, to be human?_

A burst of static from one of the golems interrupted her muddled thoughts, saying something about Yuu. Apparently, he was showing magnificent progress.

* * *

Time flew by rather rapidly, in Nika's perspective. She'd heard of a saying once, in passing from one of the scientists, that "time flies when you're having fun". She supposed that was why the days seemed to go by so much faster now.

Before she knew it, Alma's birthday was upon them.

Of course, having never celebrated one before, Nika and Yuu had to have the concept of a "birthday" explained to them. Apparently, it was to signify the passage of one year. Alma, having woken on the sixth day of December, Doctor Edgar explained, was to celebrate his birthday on that day when it came around each year. Normally, Alma told them, the person whose birthday it was would receive presents and there would be some sort of baked good called a cake which everyone would eat.

Since they couldn't exactly go out and buy their own gifts for the celebration, Alma practically demanded that they each give him a hug for his birthday. This wasn't anything new to Nika, who offered up her hug easily, but apparently Yuu had never given one before because he vehemently refused.

"C'mon, Yuu!" Alma whined, holding out his arms. "It's my birthday!"

"I'll get you another present," Yuu tried to bargain, his own arms crossed over his chest stubbornly. "Name it - what do you want?"

"Where are you going to get another present?" Nika pointed out. "There isn't anything here that Alma hasn't already seen."

"I'll think of something!"

"Alright," Alma conceded surprisingly easy. "I want... Two hugs!"

 _Hah, we should've seen that coming,_ Nika thought, giggling behind her hand at Yuu's expression.

"Not that, you idiot!" He looked away, the tips of his ears suspiciously pink. "Why do you want a hug so bad, anyway?"

That made Alma pause, as he seriously considered the question. Nika watched, curious. Although she certainly didn't mind giving him a hug, she couldn't help but wonder why he was so committed in getting this present.

"Hmm... I guess it's because I just like hugs?" Alma laughed, seemingly not noticing the deadpan faces of his two friends. "I don't know! I don't get them often, but I still think they're nice."

"That's stupid," Yuu muttered under his breath, warily eyeing Alma as if concerned that he was going to jump him. "If I give you the damn hug, will you stop bothering me about it?"

Alma perked up immediately. "Absolutely!"

Slowly, Yuu held out his arms, firmly looking away from Alma. "F-Fine then."

In an instant, Alma was upon him, arms wound tightly around Yuu's shoulders. The abrupt movement almost knocked them over, but the younger boy managed to steady them just in time. He protested the whole time but didn't pull away from the hug, Alma rocking them side to side gleefully.

Suddenly, he lifted his head to smile in her direction. "Nika! Come join us!"

Yuu's protests got louder at that, but Nika hopped over and hugged him from the other side, effectively trapping him in between hers and Alma's arms. She only let go when Yuu really began to thrash about, stepping back with a laugh. Yuu's cheeks were red, and his mouth was half-heartedly curled into a scowl. As Alma and Nika continued to laugh, his expression curved into more of a pout, which had her laughing even harder.

They were interrupted when Doctor Edgar made his presence known, speaking up from the doorway.

"Well, don't you three look like you're having fun." This assessment was met by two enthusiastic nods. "Are you having a good birthday, Alma?"

"Mhm!" Alma clasped his hands behind his back, rocking onto his toes and back again. "Yuu and Nika just gave me the _best_ presents!"

Off to the side Yuu started mumbling more complaints, arms crossed sullenly.

* * *

As her testing continued, Nika came to realize something very important.

While Yuu and Alma were showing significant progress (at least, according to what she heard over the golems), Nika herself seemed to be stuck at a standstill. The scientists were beginning to look more and more frustrated during her sessions. They began to throw around words like _"disappointing"_ , and _"failure"_.

She was still healing, no matter what they did to her body. But, regardless of that fact, she still wasn't able to achieve any semblance of synchronization with the Innocence. Her fellow disciples hadn't accomplished whatever the scientists were looking for either, but their bodies were at least showing signs of being able to synchronize.

Her, not so much.

 _What good was she, if she couldn't even do the one thing she'd been created for?_

Her testing became even more rigorous, and Alma sometimes had to carry her back to the sleeping quarters once they were done, despite having injuries of his own. Nika knew that he was worried, but at the end of the day there wasn't much she could do to reassure him.

More than that, Yuu seemed to be having some problems himself. They weren't related to the Innocence, but she'd been woken up several times in the middle of the night when Yuu startled awake. He refused to talk about whatever was haunting his dreams, however, so more often than not Nika simply ignored him and went back to sleep. Alma also seemed to notice something was wrong, as he told her about how Yuu seemed to be having a lot of headaches and was caught staring off into space sometimes.

It wasn't long until the lab technicians began to take note of Yuu's strange behaviour too. They introduced him to someone named Zuu Mei, and Yuu ended up going to see the old man nearly every day. He made some mention of "illusions" but Nika didn't understand what that meant, so she decided to put it out of her mind for now.

Yuu didn't necessarily get any better, though. If anything, he seemed to be getting worse. She could still hear him tossing in his bed at night, and it got to the point where he was loud enough that his movements would even wake up Alma.

And while Yuu looked almost guilty about repeatedly waking them up, he still wouldn't tell them what was wrong.

* * *

Almost two months after Alma's birthday celebration, Nika lay awake listening to Yuu's frantic movements two beds away. She thought again about getting up to check on him, but knew that it'd be a pointless gesture anyways.

To her right, she heard Alma let out a quiet sigh. His covers shifted as he turned to look at Yuu.

"It's happening again..." He whispered. Nika wondered if he even knew she was awake.

"Yeah," she replied after a moment. "He's been like this every night for weeks now."

Alma sighed again, reaching up to rub one eye. "I know."

They lapsed back into silence; the quiet was only broken when Yuu suddenly bolted upright, breathing ragged. Nika lifted herself into a sitting position as Alma spoke up, taking a moment to silently observe the other boy. His hair was a mess from his thrashing in his sleep, and he was staring down at his hand for some reason.

"You were tossing and turning again."

Yuu jolted, dropping his hand back to the bed. He looked over at them, seemingly just realizing that they were awake. "Hah, sorry, did I wake you up?"

"Don't worry about it!" Alma chirped. "It's almost morning. It's a little bit early, but wanna leave anyways?"

Yuu gave the affirmative and Nika slipped out of bed, toes curling against the cold floor.

"Let's get dressed, then we can wish everyone a good morning," she suggested.

Twenty minutes later, the trio was stepping into the Sixth Laboratory, their breath appearing as a foggy white cloud in front of them. All three of them were shivering.

Alma let out a shriek almost immediately, wrapping his arms around himself. "Waah! It's so cold! It's W-W-Winter!"

"Huh?" Yuu asked. "Who's that?"

"There's this guy named Winter in the outside world, and he makes everything cold!" Alma explained with a pout. Nika nodded along as if to confirm his words.

"W-What a pain in the ass." Yuu bit out between chattering teeth.

Alma suddenly perked up, looking determined. "Yeah, well, I'm not going to let him stop me!" He declared, sprinting towards the pits. "Good morning everyone!"

"A-Alma," Nika called out. "Maybe you shouldn't be running-"

Yuu burst out laughing when Alma's foot slipped on a wet-looking part of the floor, sending him tumbling head over heels. He ended up sprawled out on his back, feet in the air, and even Nika had to laugh at that.

"I tried to warn you!" She yelled, trying to stifle her laughter behind her hands. "A-Are you okay?"

She and Yuu carefully made their way over to him, helping him to his feet and making sure he didn't slip again. Once he was back upright, Alma darted off to one of the nearby pits, already rambling away.

"...and yesterday, Doctor Edgar put _mayonnaise_ on some food! And this mayonnaise thing is really delicious!"

Nika stopped to greet a few of the sleeping children before she realized that Yuu was no longer behind her. She looked around and eventually spotted him sitting at the edge of the room.

"Yuu?" She stopped in front of him, looking down curiously. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he gestured towards Alma. "I can't believe he remembers everyone's names."

Nika smiled at that, and sat down beside him. "I know, it's kind of amazing. I don't even know all their names, even though he keeps telling me."

"Yeah..." On the other side of the room, Alma was gushing about the ingredients of mayonnaise and how it originated from France, hands waving around excitedly. "Watching him talk to himself from here is really creepy, though."

Nika couldn't help but laugh at that. "I guess," she replied. "He really can talk, can't he?"

When Yuu didn't answer, she glanced sideways at him. Surprisingly, his head was turned the other way, looking at something to his left.

"Yuu?" Nika hesitantly placed a hand on his shoulder, but drew it back almost immediately as if she had been burned. All of his muscles were coiled tight as he sat, frozen, staring at something she couldn't see. "Yuu, what's wrong?"

"What is it with you?" His voice was so quiet she almost didn't hear him, and she leaned in a little bit in case he said anything else.

"What do you want with me!?" Yuu suddenly shouted, his voice loud enough that it echoed in the huge room. Nika flinched back, partly out of shock and partly in an attempt to save her eardrums.

"Yuu?" Alma ran over just as the other boy collapsed, holding his head. "What's wrong, Yuu!?"

Nika could practically hear the grinding of Yuu's teeth as he clenched his jaw. He was shaking, knuckles white against the dark of his hair, forehead pressed to the cold tile.

"Alma, go get help!" Nika wasn't sure what was happening, but Yuu needed help and he needed it now. Alma didn't give any protests, racing out of the room and yelling at the top of his lungs for anyone to come and help.

Cautiously, Nika tried to pull Yuu from the floor so that she could get a look at his face. "Yuu! Can you hear me?"

Beneath her hands, Yuu suddenly went limp.

" _Yuu!_ "

Nika held him as steady as possible, positioning him so that she could support him properly. He was breathing quickly - too quickly - chest heaving, and still trembling minutely. Nika held onto one of his hands tightly, praying that Alma returned with help soon.

* * *

Doctor Edgar had rushed into the lab only minutes after Yuu lost consciousness, Renny and Alma right on his heels. The two adults gently took Yuu from her, hurrying him to the infirmary where she and Alma weren't allowed to follow. They tried everything they could think of to get in, but the lab technicians repeatedly turned them away, instructing them to go back to the sleeping quarters. Alma was in tears when Nika finally dragged him away.

* * *

" _I'll wait for you..."_

" _...the petals fall..."_

" _Forever."_

Yuu blearily registered the formless figures above him, blinking his eyes open. It took a few minutes before he was able to connect the dots and process what was going on.

"Hang in there, Yuu!" A voice called out.

 _It sounds familiar._

Eventually, things snapped back into focus and he realized abruptly that he was surrounded by many people. Doctor Edgar and Director Twi were both there, along with several other scientists. All of them looked haggard and concerned. He was in one of the infirmary beds, he noticed belatedly, hooked up to various machines and with several things stuck to his forehead.

"W..hat-" he croaked out, but stopped when Doctor Edgar placed a soothing hand on his head.

"It's alright Yuu, you're okay," he told Yuu, but his voice sounded... off. "We have a few questions for you, but we'll wait until you've woken up a bit more."

Unsure of what was going on, Yuu nodded slowly. What happened? What had he been doing beforehand? He remembered being in Laboratory Six with Alma and Nika, and then...

 _The woman._

Director Twi seemed to notice something in his expression, because she suddenly spoke up.

"What is it, Yuu? Did you remember something?"

"Twi, please," Doctor Edgar tried to speak up. "He's just woken up, give him a moment-"

"No." She kept her eyes firmly on Yuu's face. "Yuu. What happened in the laboratory?"

"There was... a woman." Suddenly, his vision was beginning to fade again.

"A woman? What woman?"

He was unconscious again before he could answer.

* * *

Nika lay in her bed, kicking her feet against the side of the mattress. She couldn't sleep, since it wasn't all that late yet, but with nothing to do she'd come back here. Somewhere along the way she'd lost Alma, who was upset with her for leaving Yuu behind, even though she'd tried to explain that the scientists couldn't help Yuu if they kept getting in the way. He'd run off, and now she was stuck waiting for him to come back, or for Yuu to be released by the scientists.

She counted the cracks in the ceiling, losing track several times as she reached higher numbers, but before she could beginning her fourth attempt, the door opened. She sat up as Alma walked into the room, still looking downcast.

"Alma-"

"I'm sorry Nika," he cut her off. "I know you just want Yuu to get better, too. I shouldn't have gotten upset with you..."

Nika hopped down from her bed, meeting Alma at the doorway. "It's okay, Alma," she wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "I'm sure Yuu will be fine!"

When she pulled back, Alma still looked conflicted.

"Alma? Is everything okay?"

"It's... It's nothing."

Nika knew that wasn't really true, but she didn't know what to say to make him open up. "Let's go get dinner," she suggested quietly. "That'll cheer you up!"

Alma gave her a watery smile. "Yeah, sounds fun."

So the two left the sleeping quarters in search of food, Nika tugging Alma along by the hand. It was a little late for dinner, but they hadn't had a chance to eat earlier with everything that had happened. She tried the keep conversation flowing, unsettled by how quiet Alma was being, but nothing seemed to stick. Alma either gave one word answers, or didn't answer her at all - it looked like he was trapped inside his own head.

Nika couldn't help but huff at his behaviour. "You're acting like Yuu," she muttered, pulling sharply on his hand to get his attention. "C'mon, let's go see what they've got down in the cafeteria!"

By the time they reached the cafeteria, Alma seemed to be acting more like himself. He skipped up to the counter and loudly asked for food, standing on his toes to look into the kitchen.

The cook came forward, smiling when he saw the two of them.

"Hey, Alma, Nika! Just the two of you today?"

Nika briefly worried that the mention of their sick friend would send Alma spiraling back into his depressed mood, but he responded casually enough.

"Yeah, Yuu was quarantined, so it's just us for today."

"Cheer up!" The cook exclaimed, setting down two bowls of food for them. "I'm sure the doctors will have him fixed up in no time!"

"What's that?" Nika suddenly piped up, looking just beyond the cook where another kitchen staff was wrestling with a suspicious looking fish.

"Ah," the cook chuckled. "That's a fish - probably from outside. I heard they caught it in the canal."

Beside her, Alma suddenly straightened up. When she looked over at him though, he had a thoughtful look on his face.

"Alma?"

He blinked, surprised, before waving away her concerns. "Nothing, nothing! Let's eat, Nika!"

Reluctantly, Nika began to eat her own bowl of food, eyeing Alma between bites. Once they were done, they both thanked the cook for the food before Alma dragged her out into the hallway. He didn't stop until they were in a deserted area, with no one else around.

"Al-"

"Nika." His tone was startlingly serious, preventing her from saying anything else. "I need you to do me a favour."

"Um, what kind of favour?"

"I... I need you to go down to where the Innocence is, and synchronize."

Nika blinked, positive she couldn't have heard him right. "I'm sorry- _what_? You want me to synchronize? Alma, that's what the tests are for!"

"I know!" Alma seemed almost frantic. "I know, but we can't get the scientists - we can't, okay?"

"I-I _can't_ though, Alma, you know that! I haven't been able to synchronize at all-"

"But you need to, and you need to do it now!" Alma suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders. "Nika, we need to help Yuu, and we can't if we don't have the Innocence's power!"

"What does Yuu have to do with this-?"

"Please, Nika!" There were tears in his eyes now. "I-I overheard the scientists and- and they want to put Yuu to sleep. Nika, we can't let them-!"

"Put him to sleep?" Something twisted in Nika's stomach at those words. "...Forever?"

Alma nodded mutely, removing one hand from her shoulder to wipe his at eyes.

Nika bit her lip. "I... I _can't_ -" Seeing the look on his face, she sighed. "I can't promise I'll be able to do it. But I'll try. For Yuu."

Alma dragged her in for a hug, squeezing her tight. "Thank you! I know, it's a lot to ask, I'm sorry! I'll do most of the work, don't worry, I just need to make sure you'll be okay in case something happens!"

"Nothing's going to happen though, right?" She whispered.

"I hope not, but it's good to be prepared."

Feeling determined, Nika nodded. She wrapped her arms tighter around Alma, but stopped suddenly. "Alma..?"

"Yeah?"

"What the hell is in your shirt?"

Alma sprang back, laughing nervously. He lifted a hand to scratch his cheek, but the motion caused whatever it was to fall from underneath his clothes. Nika gaped at the serving tray as it clattered on the floor.

"Alma... Why do you have that?"

"Ahaha, no reason?" He tried. "Look, the cook didn't even notice I took it!"

"But Alma-"

"Gotta go, Nika! Don't forget your part of the plan!" Alma called, already speeding down the hall after he retrieved the serving tray. "Oh! And if you achieve synchronization, go find Yuu afterwards! If not, I'll meet you down there once I have him!"

 _What have we gotten ourselves into?_ Nika couldn't help but wonder.

* * *

By the end of it all, when all this madness was over with, Nika couldn't even remember what went on in the lower levels of the Asian Branch. Deep in the bowels of the building, where the Innocence was kept in hopes that they, as apostles, would one day synchronize with it and end this "Holy War".

One moment she was falling into the tall room ( _why hadn't Alma told her how to get in? It would've made everything so much simpler_ ), and everything from then on was shrouded in a dull fog, lost moments hidden by the overwhelming sensation of _pain, so much pain_.

And then, abruptly, there was nothing.

Suddenly, she wasn't in that room with the Innocence, but somewhere else entirely. Somewhere warm, and bright, and with a dull ringing in her ears.

Then, that ringing became louder, and _louder_ \- and she suddenly realized it wasn't a ringing sound at all.

It was a voice.

 _Was someone talking to her?_

She couldn't help but recall a somewhat similar situation. Waking up, not knowing where she was- and then a voice that broke through the haze and lifted her up to safety.

 _Alma?_

Then she remembered. Alma needed her help. _Yuu_ needed both of them to come through for him, to save him.

" _We need to help Yuu, and we can't if we don't have the Innocence's power!"_

Her friends needed her.

When she opened her eyes again, Nika was momentarily blinded by the bright light of the Innocence. Her whole body felt stiff, but the thought of Alma and Yuu had her pushing herself to her feet regardless.

Slowly blinking her eyes open, Nika's line of sight was drawn to her right hand where a crystalline substance was growing from in between her fingers. It hurt to move her hand, her skin tearing as it brushed up against whatever this thing was, but she did it anyways. She flexed her fingers, bringing her other hand closer to inspect that damage.

And suddenly she knew that this was the Innocence. _Her_ Innocence.

As if powered by that recognition, the crystals pulsed and continued to grow, forming a circular shape just beyond the tips of her fingers. The disk was jagged, newly formed as it was, but it was wider than her arm and she felt better having it with her. Once the transformation was complete, Nika grabbed hold of the disk with her left hand, pulling until it snapped free of her right hand, ignoring the blood that poured from her new wounds.

She needed to continue with the plan, but Alma wasn't there and she felt slightly panicked because of that fact. Had something gone wrong? Were he and Yuu okay-?

The world tilted, sending her crumbling to the floor just as she was getting to her feet. Black and white images flashed in front of her, but some of them were moving too fast to see more than a blur of monochrome.

 _Yuu was crying._

 _Red. Red. Blood?_

 _A man with bandages over his eyes, being pulled through a narrow tunnel._

 _CROW agents. Surrounded._

 _Last chance._

 _Alma. Wings?_

" _I've gotta kill you."_

When colour returned to the world, Nika lay gasping on the floor for a moment longer. _What was that?_ She pushed herself to her hands and knees, limbs shaking from the effort and the aftermath of what she had seen.

Something was wrong - very wrong.

She forced herself to run.

* * *

After Alma left Nika behind, he ran towards the infirmary. Not knowing how much time they had left was scary, but he had to try. For Yuu.

The door was locked when he got there, but there was no way he was going to let that stop him. As quietly as he could, he twisted the handle until it broke, snapping the locking mechanism inside and allowing him entrance. He darted inside, serving tray held at the ready.

One of the technicians noticed the ajar door, and turned to inspect it. "Hey," he called over his shoulder. "Didn't you lock the door?"

His companion was unconscious before the question was finished, but the first man didn't notice until it was too late. He too, collapsed under the strength behind Alma's attack. The last man in the room tried to run for the door, but didn't make it.

He didn't have much time before someone noticed what was going on in the room, so he grabbed Yuu as gently as he could in his rush, draping him over his back and booking it out of there.

"Everyone's asleep, sorry." He apologized to the dazed boy. "But I'm not abandoning you. It's just... I wouldn't be able to take it you were disposed of. You and Nika... you're all I have. You're my friends, and I won't let them take that away. Sorry." He was crying by this point, but that didn't matter.

He turned a corner, hoping his mental map was right and that he was running in the right direction. Thankfully, they were exactly where he'd hoped, and the large opening at the end of the hall looked like a godsend. Suddenly, sharp pain erupted in his legs and left shoulder, and he stumbled forward, crashing to the ground. Yuu was sent tumbling over his shoulders, landing just a little bit ahead of him.

"Al-" Yuu was cut off as paper seals came down all around them, boxing them in.

As Alma turned to look, three CROWS appeared at the end of the hallway, hands frozen in various signs, ready to activate the seals at a moment's notice. The agent in front spoke up, voice crisp and audible despite the mask covering their face.

"We are taking you back, apostles."

Alma grit his teeth, frustration building inside him. They were so close - Yuu was so close! The exit was _right there_ -

In a last ditch effort, Alma kicked out with all the force he could muster, ignoring the searing pain in his legs. If he could just get Yuu out, he'd take all the pain in the world.

Yuu screamed as he was suddenly pushed off the edge, cursing violently.

"If you get lucky, you might be able to make it outside," Alma explained, ignoring Yuu's yelling. " _Run_."

A cage made entirely of paper seals came down around him, blocking Yuu from sight in his last few seconds of consciousness.

Just before the darkness consumed him entirely, he heard the CROW saying something that piqued his curiosity.

 _Core... memory...?_

* * *

"What an _idiot_ ," Yuu grumbled to himself, barely managing to drag himself out of the canal that he'd fallen into after Alma had _kicked him off the building_ \- honestly, what was he thinking!? Yuu hunched over, coughing to try and expel the water from his lungs. Once the coughing fit was passed, he began to scale the wall before him because _like hell_ he was going to stay in the canal.

"What the hell do you mean, _'if I get lucky'_ you bastard!?" He hissed, just as he pulled himself up over the ledge and onto solid ground again. "So cold I could have frozen to death- I actually did die! And this still isn't even outside..."

He collapsed onto the ground, just now noticing that there were two people nearby.

"Hey, pull this out of me." Yuu spoke up, unwilling to move from his spot face-down on the ground.

"Eh!? Okay, um..." One of the people began to panic. "The m-medical team! We need to call them!"

Yuu grabbed hold of their ankle before they could run off in search of a doctor, tripping them and sending them to the floor as well. "You don't need to," he bit out. "Just pull it out and I'll heal. Please, my tattoo's gone numb, it's unbearable."

The other guy sat up, holding his (probably bloody) nose. His eyes widened when he saw what was stuck in Yuu's back. "What the hell..."

Yuu lay still, panting harshly. His whole back felt like it was on fire, the pain was never-ending.

Suddenly, a pair of large, gentle hands lifted him up, laying him against someone's shoulder as they moved to pull out the CROW's needle.

 _This feels familiar somehow..._

"You okay now?" The person asked, shifting Yuu so that he could lay on his side. Yuu stared up at the other man's face, his eyes completely covered by bandages that stood in a sharp contrast against his dark skin. "What's wrong?"

 _It's so familiar._

"Haven't I... seen you somewhere?"

Then he lost consciousness again.

* * *

 **Chapter Notes:** So, yeah. I originally wanted to include _a lot_ more in this chapter, but I guess it'll have to be wrapped up next time because I really wanted to get this out, and it's already longer than usual. Nika's started to remember some things, but she's still not sure what it is she's seeing - the actual realization will come later, as will information about her past.

And, in case you're unaware, the two people Kanda meets at the end are Bak (the loser he trips), and Marie (just recently blinded, still wearing bandages on his eyes). There's also a missing scene in here, where Alma overhears the decision to kill Kanda, but I didn't find it all that necessary to include, as he mentions it later. Also, since I'll be skipping over the actual interaction in the next chapter, just know that the CROW show up and take Kanda away from Bak and Marie after he passes out again.

This chapter covered (basically) the entirety of chapter 191 in the manga. Chapter inspiration from We Came As Romans' "The World I Used To Know".

 **Quick Note:** While searching through the archive, I actually found a story with (according to the summary) a similar plot to this. I personally haven't read it (I don't want it to influence my own writing), but I will suggest that maybe you guys check it out if you're enjoying this fic! It's called "D Gray Land", by user _WinterYule_.

 **Published: 11/07/2016**

 **Edited: 01/29/2017 - "Lenny"** **has been changed to "Renny", because I missed the bad translation and didn't realize that said character was actually a younger Renny Epstain helping her father.**


	4. Chapter Four: The Edge

**Chapter Notes:** Has it really been over a month since the last update? Huh.

Chapter Four: The Edge

* * *

 _I'm three steps from the edge,_

 _Don't push me over it._

* * *

" _It's a lotus. It's born from the mud, pointing upwards towards the heavens. A flower that blesses the world."_

" _I love you... Forever..."_

" _ **Ooh, he's still alive?**_ _"_

Yuu awoke slowly, mind lingering on sensations just beyond his grasp. His hand was outstretched, reaching for the ceiling; just like the lotus flower _she_ had described.

 _What was that - a memory?_

Distantly, he was aware there were tears in his eyes. The words were on his lips.

 _I love you._

Someone else was speaking.

"Remove the machine and the IV."

 _Ah, I see..._ Things were starting to fall into place. Yuu could see the various lab materials in his peripheral, Renny standing by his side and dealing with the IV. _So that's how it is._

A female voice spoke up then, startling Yuu, who turned his head to look. "I see... Then let us leave the persuading to uncle." A pause. "No, keep this area blocked off from the main branch. Whatever you do, don't let Bak in." Again, a small silence. "Ah, nothing has changed. I'm counting on you to keep watch. I'm sorry to put you in this dilemma, Fo."

The name struck a chord in Yuu, bringing back a past discussion with Alma and Nika.

" _I'm thinking she's a fairy or something... Her name is Fo."_

" _You really were crying a lot that time, Alma."_

" _Could it be... Were you crying too, Yuu?"_

" _No I wasn't!"_

Suddenly, it all seemed so _funny_ ; Yuu couldn't stop the laugh that escaped him. Director Twi turned slightly, watching him as she let the golem disconnect. There were a thousand questions burning in her eyes, but they were nothing compared to the answers that Yuu had. It was ridiculous, _hilarious_ , to think that they could- that he was- and Alma, and Nika-

 _What a disaster._

The laughter wouldn't stop, now that he'd started. He was shaking from the force of it. His voice echoed in the quiet of the lab.

Director Twi stepped up to his bedside, no doubt trying to calm him, but Yuu couldn't even hear her. His laughter was too loud, and the whirring thoughts inside his mind wouldn't allow for anything else to get through.

"Yuu." Her voice was sharper now, slicing through the madness that had taken hold. "I'm going to do something that might be a little painful, but it will be over quickly. You will never wake up again."

His laughter stopped abruptly. But he wasn't afraid.

No, he was _livid._

"You lied to me," the words were laced with deadly intent. He couldn't even begin to imagine what he looked like to her right now: shaking, eyes crazed. His words were almost enough to cut a lesser person. "The Second Exorcist Project? Artificial apostle? Lies. All lies. Everything was a lie!"

He was shouting now. Everyone in the lab had turned to witness this spectacle.

 _They were never hallucinations,_ he realized. _Did you seal them away? Destroy them? The memories?_

Nobody said anything, so he continued. "I was killed by an akuma, wasn't I?" It wasn't really a question, and they knew it. "What was the date? How many years have gone by since that day?"

 _These memories of death. Alma and Nika? And the others, still asleep? Them too?_

"What did you do? _What did you do to us_?!"

 _Then what about... that Innocence..?_

Professor Epstain stepped forward. "Let's begin, Chang."

* * *

"Where are you, Alma?!"

"Sorry, I let my guard down... I didn't think he would tear apart his body to get out of the shackles."

There were people down the hall from him, but he was still ahead of them and he wasn't going to stop now. His arms and legs were coated in blood from his escape, but it barely even registered in his mind.

He had more important things to worry about.

Yuu was gone; Alma could only hope he'd made it to the canal and was already outside. But before he could leave, he needed to get Nika. The Innocence had been moved, however - most likely in response to their attempted break out - so Alma couldn't be sure that Nika had made it there before they'd moved it.

A small part of his mind worried that she hadn't been able to synchronize and had been caught, but he ignored it for now.

Determined, Alma grabbed onto the large power cord that ran down into the room below. The hole was small, but his child-sized body would be able to fit through. He began his descent, slowly sliding down so as to not lose his grip. The blood on his hands made it difficult, but even if he fell it wouldn't really be enough to kill him.

Suddenly, a voice shouted from up above him. "Alma!"

Startled, his fingers fumbled and he slid further down, _too fast_ and he quickly wrapped his legs around the cord to slow himself. Doctor Edgar's face appeared over the edge, peering down at Alma with a mix of panic and anger on his face.

"What are you doing down there?! Get back up here Alma!" He looked around, likely hoping to find something he could use to pull Alma up to ground level. "I know that Yuu is precious to you, but-"

"No!" Alma shouted. "How could you guys understand?"

Doctor Edgar looked stunned, jerking backwards a little bit as if Alma's words had physically hurt him. Alma swallowed heavily, blinking away tears from the corners of his eyes.

"I'm going to save Yuu," Alma said, voice quiet but deadly serious. "We can fight if we have the Innocence."

And he let go.

 _Sorry, Doctor Edgar._

His mentor's screams followed Alma the whole way down.

* * *

Nika held her newly forged weapon close, the sharp crystalline edges digging into her palms. Blood dripped from the wound at a steady pace, a hollow _tap_ _tap tap_ , thesound barely audible under her heavy breathing. It'd been hours since Alma's so-called plan had been put into action, and things weren't looking good for any of them.

She was tucked away down a small empty corridor where dust covered the floor, a sure sign of disuse. It'd been the only place she could hide on such short notice upon hearing several people rapidly approaching, and she hadn't moved since. The entire building had apparently been thrown into chaos, and she was too afraid to leave this safe haven

A few hours ago - just slightly after dawn, from what she'd heard in a passing conversation - Alma had been caught by CROW agents. Yuu had still been on the run at that point, but she didn't know whether or not that still held true now.

She may have actually been alone at this point.

 _Maybe I should just give myself in,_ Nika thought despite herself. _Maybe if I just go willingly I won't get in trouble._

She shifted slightly, moving her weight onto her other leg, only to freeze halfway through the motion as a golem drifted by her hiding spot. A man with a long blonde ponytail followed closely behind.

"What do you mean, you can't tell me?" He sounded aggravated.

A female voice replied through the golem, sound slightly distorted. "Bak, it is none of your concern. The elders and I have it under control. The children will be dealt with."

"See, that's why I'm worried! They're just kids - I doubt they deserve whatever the elders want as a punishment!" The man - Bak? - retorted. "Tell me what's going on!"

"No. The children must face the consequences of their actions. We have already apprehended two of them."

Nika's breath caught in her throat. _Two of them?_ That meant they'd gotten Yuu as well.

"Mother-"

"End of discussion, Bak. Please, just stay out of the CROW's way. The whole situation will be dealt with shortly." The line disconnected with a small click.

Bak let out a short yell, plucking to golem out of the air and tossing it away. Of course, since it could fly it didn't suffer any addition damage, but Bak didn't seem to notice. He turned, presumably to head back the way he came, but froze as he locked eyes with Nika.

Said girl flinched back, trying to wedge herself further into her hiding spot. She was squatting in a doorframe a little ways down the corridor, but all the doors in this wing were locked so there was nowhere else to go. Her fingers clamped down even tighter on her Innocence in preparation of a fight.

"I-" Bak hesitated, glancing around. "Are you alright?"

Nika didn't reply, too scared to speak.

Cautiously, he took a small step closer. "You're Nika, right? Look, I'm- I'm sorry about whatever's going on. We tried to help your friend, Yuu, but the CROW-"

A sudden flash of light to Bak's right cut him off, and then a female voice spoke up from beyond Nika's line of sight.

"Hey, Bak!"

"F-Fo? What are you doing here?"

Nika recognized the name, but didn't know whether or not she could trust the newcomer. She didn't know if she could trust either of them, really, despite what Bak had been saying beforehand.

"Watch duty, obviously. Director thinks you're gonna do something stupid, so I'm here to stop you."

Bak flinched, eyes darting back towards Nika's hiding spot for a split second before moving away again. "S-Stupid? Me? Never!"

Fo scoffed. "Yeah, sure. You keep telling yourself that. C'mon, let's go; we can get lunch or something." Bak was dragged away before he could really protest, though he certainly tried to.

Nika waited for as long as she dared, listening to Bak's footsteps fade away the further they got. When all was quiet again, she got up and bolted. Her hiding place was no longer safe. Now that she'd be discovered there was no telling how long she had until someone came to retrieve her.

 _And 'dealt with'._

She ran through the hallways, careful to keep her footfalls quiet, but too afraid to consider going any slower. She hadn't seen much of this part of the building before, but she was able to duck out of the way whenever she came across someone else in the halls. Upon one such occasion, she had to dart into an unlocked room to avoid being caught.

The room was bright, and filled with various machines that beeped quietly. After taking a look around, Nika realized this may have been an infirmary of some sorts, though it wasn't one she had ever visited before.

There was also someone else in the room.

Nika jumped when she noticed him, raising her weapon above her head before realizing that the other man was unconscious.

Cautiously, she lowered her weapon and crept closer. He had bandages over his eyes, she noted, so it wasn't like he'd be able to see her even if he had been awake. She examined his dark coat, and the Rose Cross on his chest.

 _An Exorcist?_

Whoever he was, he was fatally injured. There was a deep gash across his forehead, and Nika knew all too well how dangerous head wounds were.

Before she take a closer look, a new sound drew her attention to the wall on her left. It was loud, even through the thick cement barrier. But it wasn't a sound she had ever heard before, that was for certain. It sounded like a series of loud crackles, followed by a _boom_ that was so strong it shook things off the shelves.

Nika stepped away from the fallen Exorcist, holding her Innocence out in front of her facing the wall. There was a slight pause between all the noise, and then suddenly a large portion of the wall collapsed, sending pieces of rubble and clouds of smoke and dust pouring into the room. Nika shielded her eyes, feeling disorientated from how her ears were ringing.

When things settled down, she just barely heard someone speaking. "...such an idiot..."

Her head jerked up, startled. "Yuu!"

Yuu was leaning heavily against the wall, but pushed himself upright when he saw her. "Nika?" His voice was raspy.

Before she could really process what she was doing, Nika was all the way across the room and throwing her arms around Yuu's shoulders. "You're okay!" She held on tight, not even caring when her arm caught on something that ripped her flesh open.

"Yeah," Yuu staggered a bit before catching himself. "I'm fine. What about you?"

"I'm okay," she replied, pulling back to look him over. "Is that..?"

Yuu held up the sword in his hand. "The Innocence." He said simply.

"Yeah," Nika looked down at her own. "I got mine, too."

Yuu's eyes caught something over her shoulder, and moved to inspect the Exorcist in the infirmary bed. "A uniform? So he was an Exorcist..."

Nika looked confused. "Do you know him, Yuu?"

Yuu scoffed, but it wasn't as mean as usual. "Not really. He helped me out yesterday, is all, before the CROW showed up and caught me." His gaze never left the Exorcist on the cot. He carefully brushed his bloody fingers against the other's wound. "Do you think... this guy is an experimental subject too?"

The steady beeping of the heart monitor suddenly accelerated, the lines on the display rising and falling rapidly. Yuu jerked away as the Exorcist started to writhe violently, back arching. It was over in less than a minute, however, and he collapsed back against the cot before slowly raising a hand that clenched loosely as if searching for something.

Nika and Yuu shrieked, identical expressions of shock plastered on their faces.

The Exorcist's grasped Yuu's shoulder, which he then used to push himself up into an upright position. "That voice," his own deep voice mumbled. "Are you that little guy from before?" His face turned slightly towards Nika. "And you brought a friend."

Nika was still gaping at the other man. His wound, which had been so severe only moments before, had vanished in the span of a few seconds.

"W-What-?"

Yuu shook the man's hand off. "Che, what the hell are you doing here?"

The Exorcist smiled faintly as his head turned back towards Yuu, hands coming together to rest in his lap. "I should be asking you that, shouldn't I? Last time we were together, the CROW took you away."

"Yeah, well, I got out. You gonna turn me back in?" Yuu snarled back. Nika rushed over to pull him away.

"Yuu!"

"Ah, no," the man replied. "I won't. You're safe with me, don't worry."

Nika thought back to what Yuu had said about him, how he'd helped him before. Could he be like Bak, who had tried to help _her_ earlier?

"Um, can I ask for your name, Mr. Exorcist?" She asked quietly.

"Of course. I'm Noise Marie - you can just call me Marie. It's nice to meet you, though I wish it could've been under better circumstances." He smiled in her direction, and Nika was again reminded of the bandages over his eyes.

 _Was he blind?_ She couldn't help but wonder.

"Me too," she smiled back, even if he couldn't see it. "I'm Nika, by the way. And you've already met Yuu."

Said boy was grumbling at her side, but he wasn't endangering himself or her so Nika let him be.

Marie opened his mouth to respond but paused suddenly, head tilted slightly to the side. He tensed, and Nika and Yuu were immediately on alert.

"You have to leave," he whispered. "Quickly. There are people coming down the hall."

Her eyes flickered towards the door, but it stayed shut for now. "They must've heard the explosion Yuu made," she looked at him, panic creeping into her voice. "What are we going to do? They'll catch us."

Yuu scanned the room before his eyes landed on the vent in the ceiling. "The vent. They won't be able to follow."

Nika assessed the vent. "How will we reach? It's on the ceiling."

Marie shifted, placing his feet on the floor. "I can help, just let me-" He faltered when he tried to stand, but regained his balance before they could reach out and steady him. "I'm fine. I can stand, at least. Lead me to the vent."

After a brief pause Nika gently grabbed his hand, pulling on it so that he knew which direction to move in. "It's over here," she told him. "Are you sure you want to help us? You might get in trouble."

Yuu joined them in front of the vent as Marie answered. "Don't worry about me, I want to help." He shifted their hands so that he was holding onto her wrist. "Quickly, you two don't have much time. I'll lift you up."

He felt up her arm until he was able to grasp her shoulders, then her waist. Once she was up she rushed to unhook the metal grate, then pushed it aside and clambered inside. Then, Marie repeated the process with Yuu and she helped to pull him into the vent.

"Go," Marie told them when Yuu didn't let go of his wrist. "They're not far off."

"Nika, help me pull him up." Yuu told her, ignoring Marie's startled protest. "We're not leaving him here for them to find."

She didn't question him, inwardly glad that they weren't going to leave Marie behind. Marie was still trying to dissuade them but they tuned him out and worked together to haul him upwards, much to his visible surprise. He let out a small grunt of pain, but stopped his protesting upon entering the vent.

"Why are you two..?"

"They were probably going to experiment on you anyways," Yuu cut off his questioning. "And you can see how well that worked out for us."

Nika closed the grate again as Yuu turned around, beginning to shuffle away. "C'mon," he said. "We have to keep moving."

"Ah, um," Marie looked almost flustered. "I don't know if I can- My injuries-"

For the first time, Nika noticed the bandages around his upper arms as well. "I'm sorry," she burst out. "Did we open your wounds again?"

Yuu huffed. "We don't have time for this. Here, I'll help you." He took hold of Marie's hands and looped them around his neck, then laid down so that Marie was on his back. He began to pull himself down the ventilation shaft, seemingly unhindered by the extra weight, and the trio went on their way.

"Sorry about this, little guy," Marie apologized a little while later, not for the first time. "If I hadn't lost my Innocence I'd at least be able to move by myself, even with these wounds."

Nika spoke up from behind the two. "It's fine, really! Yuu won't do anything he doesn't want to do, so he must not mind all that much."

Marie laughed lightly at that, covering up Yuu's grumbling. "Aside from that, though, you're pretty strong for such a little guy. To think that you could pull me along on your stomach... Both of you are, actually, to be able to pull me up to the vent."

"There are some special circumstances around this body," Yuu replied vaguely. "And stop calling me 'little guy'."

"Right, right," Marie chuckled. "Sorry, Yuu."

There was a long period of silence until someone spoke up again.

"You're a pretty calm guy, huh." Surprisingly, it was Yuu who broke the silence. "You don't seem very concerned about getting mixed up in this mess."

Marie seemed to ponder that for a moment. "Maybe it's because of my training as an Exorcist?" He suggested. "But, actually, I'm really not calm at all. I'm going insane with anger. Somehow, though, I can maintain my sanity... Maybe it's because of you two."

Nika blinked, confused, but he continued before she had to ask. "Maybe it's because you're beside me," he clarified. "If I were alone, I don't know what would've happened to me."

Yuu's crawling noticeably slowed, then stopped. Nika had to stop as well.

"Yuu?"

"We have to get Alma," he said. His voice was quiet, but it was laced with determination. "Then we're going to get out of here."

* * *

Eventually, after what felt like at least a few hours of crawling through the vents, they found a safe place to exit. Ironically enough, it was the very familiar Laboratory Six. The three of them shuffled out after Yuu pried the grate off, then resituated themselves and stretched. Yuu picked up Marie again and carried him on his back, with Nika walking alongside them as they made their way further into the room.

There was a thick layer of fog covering the room, and they had to be careful they didn't fall into any of the pits. Luckily, they were able to traverse the room without any disasters, and it wasn't long before Nika spotted a recognizable figure.

"Alma!"

He turned, beaming at them despite the tears in his eyes. "Yuu! Nika! You're alright!"

Even Yuu was smiling beside her. "Al-"

Then the fog was blown away and the smiles slipped off their faces entirely.

There were bodies _everywhere_. The floor was littered with them, each one sporting numerous injuries but Nika couldn't even tell where they were underneath all the _blood_ that drenched everything in red. She felt sick even looking at them, but found that she couldn't tear her eyes away either. The longer she looked, the more familiar faces she was able to pick out.

 _Professor Epstain, Director Twi..._

And there, on the end of a large, almost wing-like spike attached to Alma's back, was Doctor Edgar.

"Huh?" Alma was speaking again, and Nika stared at him in horror. "Who's that big guy behind you?"

No one answered him, so after a while Alma continued.

"I'm glad to see you, but, I've gotta kill you."

Nika's tensed, trembling all over. This wasn't Alma, there was _no way_ \- He wouldn't-!

The barrage of black and white images from earlier came back to her. Hadn't she heard the same thing then? That was Alma speaking? He sounded so _different_ , like there was nothing left of her friend inside this creature in front of them.

Instinct told her to move, so she abruptly threw herself to the side just as an onslaught of spikes rained down on them. Yuu did the same, jumping in the opposite direction even with Marie still on his back.

Then things were exploding, and everything went to hell.

The blast knocked Nika over, and she skidded across the ground until friction ground her to a halt. Meanwhile, Alma had leapt upon Yuu and knocked him down himself. He and Marie went flying, but Yuu grabbed ahold of his Innocence as it broke free from where it had been strapped against Marie's back. He still wasn't fast enough, however, as Alma descended again and attacked with a grotesquely shaped blade formed from his right arm.

" _Yuu_!" Nika shrieked as his own right arm fell to the ground, severed from the rest of his body just above his elbow by Alma's slice.

"Huh," Alma spoke over her. "So you synchronized with the Innocence too, Yuu." Yuu let out a raw scream as he was knocked into the wall hard enough to leave a crater.

For a moment, Nika had a sense of deja vu. But usually it was Yuu beating up Alma hard enough to craters in the room, and not the other way around.

"Little guy?" Marie shouted, and Nika suddenly remembered that they weren't alone. She was torn for a moment about who she should help; Marie was blind and injured, but Yuu was missing an arm. Quickly, she moved to Marie's side, resting a hand on his shoulder to let him know she was there.

"Marie, we have to get you out of here!"

Alma interrupted them from where he was dealing with Yuu. "Day after day, all alone, as I waited for my friends to wake up, I always wondered: _why aren't they waking up_?"

At that, Nika's eyes drifted towards the other pits. The water inside had turned dark and opaque with blood. She couldn't see the other kids inside.

"Heh, there's no way they'd wake up, right?" Alma laughed humorlessly. "But I still talked to them everyday - and I was super noisy, because my voice is loud, right? And even though I ended up reading all kinds of books just to have things to talk about I-"

"You... You..." Yuu faltered, looking up at Alma's tear-stained face. "Recalled your past, didn't you?"

 _Recalled your past?_ Nika wondered what he meant by that, thinking about the strange things she had seen. But, those things hadn't happened in the past, they were happening now - in the future.

Yuu kept going. "Is that why you killed them? Doctor Edgar, and everyone else in the lab?"

Alma looked hurt, as if he wasn't the one with their blood on his hands. "Funny isn't it," he breathed. "Isn't this what you'd call a demon?"

Two more large blades covered in blood unfolded from his skin as Alma fell to his knees. Yuu rushed over to him. Despite the obvious danger, Nika couldn't bring herself to stop him.

"I couldn't stop," Alma sobbed. "No matter how many times I destroy it, my body regenerates... I _can't stop_!"

Nika wanted to be there, suddenly, wanted to wrap her arms around her distraught friend and comfort him, but she couldn't. Because, without warning, those oversized blades were racing towards her and Marie. In the split second of time before they hit, Nika threw herself in their path, wrapping her body around Marie.

Then they pierced straight through her skull, continued on through Marie's chest, and sent them crashing into the wall in a splatter of blood.

* * *

Yuu stared, wide-eyed, at the crumbling wall where Nika and Marie fell from, blood dripping down the concrete in slow-moving paths. They didn't move, not even Nika. He knew that, in all likelihood, Marie wouldn't be able to survive a hit like that. Nika, maybe, but even if she could regenerate it would take time.

Alma, taking advantage of his split attention, wrapped his arms around him like a hug. Then another large blade impaled them both through the chest. Yuu coughed up blood from his lungs as his Innocence fell from his hand.

"Yuu..." Alma was crying on his shoulder. "You can understand, can't you?"

And he could, a little bit. Alma didn't want this - not really. Didn't actually want to hurt his only friends. But he knew what the Order had done to them, had wanted them to do. Yuu could sympathize. He, too, had nearly lost himself during the revelation.

 _It's not your fault,_ he thought, hoping the sentiment would reach him. _None of this is your fault, Alma._

The blade withdrew and Alma pulled back. Yuu fell to the ground in a pool of blood. "Let's die together, the three of us."

Yuu looked up at him. Alma was still crying. "As long as we're alive, the humans will never repent. In order to win this holy war, they'll continue to use us as tools forever. There's nothing left worth protecting."

The lotus flowers were creeping into the edges of his vision again, covering Alma. He could barely see him beneath the petals.

" _It's a lotus. It's born from the mud, pointing upwards towards the heavens. A flower that blesses the world."_

He could see the woman from his memories smiling at him.

Suddenly, he grabbed his Innocence again. Moving quickly, he was up on his knees in seconds. Alma staggered backwards, a new wound opening across his torso. "Y-Yuu..?"

 _Alma, my friend..._

"Sorry." There were tears carving their way down his cheeks. "I want to live, even if it means destroying you." He surged upwards, even as Alma's face fell, and brought his sword down, cleaving through Alma's skull and torso.

And he kept going, until his friend was in pieces on the ground and everything was still in the Sixth Laboratory.

* * *

 **Chapter Notes:** Yeah, sorry for taking a while to get this out. Half this chapter has been done since the end of November, but then my family was worried we were going to lose our house, and then finals happened, and... yeah. But, thankfully, we've worked things out so I'm hoping to be able to write more over the break. First semester at university is officially finished after my last final tomorrow!

Next chapter we'll also be diving into realms unknown, where I can make up a bunch of shit and not have to consult the manga all the time. AKA, we meet Tiedoll and go to the European Branch! Hopefully.

I figure I should also give some sort of outline on how long they spent at the Sixth Laboratory, because lord knows I have trouble keeping it straight in my head.

Alma wakes up on December 6th; four months later, Nika wakes up on April 6th; two months after Nika, and six months after Alma, Yuu wakes up on June 6th. I added about two months of time between Yuu's awakening until the point he accepts Alma's (and Nika's) friendship. From there, a little over six months (193 days) pass until the incident depicted last chapter and above happens. Meaning, Alma "dies" sometime around mid February? So his birthday passed last time, in December, and there was another time skip until we reached this point at the end of last chapter. Nika's birthday is in approximately two months, so she'll probably celebrate it with Tiedoll.

(And yes, Nika's birth date is entirely intentional.)

Anyways, this time we covered chapters 192 and 193 of the manga. And boy, am I glad it's done.

Chapter inspiration from Cady Groves' "This Little Girl".

Happy holidays to anyone celebrating!

 **Published: 12/19/2016**

 **Edited: 01/29/2017: "Lenny"** **has been changed to "Renny", because I missed the bad translation and didn't realize that said character was actually a younger Renny Epstain helping her father.**


End file.
